Justice Minister Dov Joseph and Attorney General Gideon Hausner were unable to agree today on the composition of a committee of jurists to give an opinion on a dispute over status between the two officials.
The Cabinet approved last Sunday a plan for such a committee to provide a ruling to end a deadlock over the Attorney General’s insistence on continuation of the arrangement under which the Attorney General has sole authority over the opening or closing of official Governmental legal proceedings. Dr. Joseph contends that the Attorney General must be subordinate to the Justice Ministry.
The Attorney General contended that the proposed judicial committee be composed only of three Supreme Court jurists. It was reported that at a meeting with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion yesterday, Mr. Hausner said that if his view was rejected, he would resign.
Dr. Joseph, who is supported on the matter by the Prime Minister, argued that a ruling by a committee made up solely of Supreme Court justices would be tantamount to a Supreme Court ruling and that the judiciary would thus be involved in an issue affecting the executive branch of the Government. He pointed out that the Israel Supreme Court has no authority over the executive branch and all legislative matters are the exclusive domain of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament.
Dr. Joseph proposed a committee of one or two justices plus one or two prominent jurists from lower courts. The Cabinet required that the two officials agree on the make up of the judicial committee. The issue came up in the Knesset debate yesterday during discussion of the Justice Ministry budget. Most deputies favored preservation of the status quo on the Attorney General’s status.
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